Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Red River Gorge: I made two trips out to the beautiful Red. With Mark and a bunch of others from the ET community, I spent a week in March climbing. After Mark and Ed fixed my lead head (no take Tuesday, whipper Wednesday), I on-sighted a couple of 10c's and just had a blast. Had another great trip in June with Peter from ET, though I only on-sighted up to the 10a on this trip. The terror of the trip was getting my car stuck on the access road... there's a story I will not re-live.

The New River Gorge: To the New, I had one trip with Alex. It was a good time, though I learned a valuable lesson: the New is stiff, very, very stiff. On-sighted a 10a and had a lot of fun on some easier climbs around Orange Oswald.

Seneca Rocks: A new favorite? Though I have yet to lead trad yet, this was a blast. I made two trips this summer, both with Mark. We had a little trouble staying on-route with the first trip, but that just made it a little more difficult. Topping out on the summit was pretty interesting, a little heady. Second trip was a little rough with the weather; we had to do a quick repel after about 6 climbs as some terrible weather moved in. All in all though, the lines here are just beautiful.

Franklin Rocks: A fun little crag on the other side of Seneca. Did a day trip with Chris and enjoyed quite a few nice lines. The rock is just really weird; feels like your grabbing soft chalk blocks, and there's a bit of dirt. Regardless though, it is a fun day trip well worth the three hours.

It has been too long since I've been on a summit, but that should change soon.

This winter, I will be doing a winter ascent of Mount Washington (1917m). While it is not impressive in its height, I will be doing a mixed ascent, climbing an ice route for much of the climb up Tuckerman or Huntington Ravine. Add Mt. Washington's notoriously foul weather, and this should be a great time. Look for updated plans as we move close to the 12/18 trip start date.